PRODUCTION

The seasonally adjusted palay production for January-March 2017 was 4.66 million metric tons, slightly higher by 1.0 percent from the 4.62 million metric tons output in the fourth quarter of 2016 (Table 1).

The increase in production was due to more area harvested as a result of early harvestings from the second quarter caused by the usage of early maturing varieties. There were also more usage of high yielding varieties and availability of subsidized seeds from the Department of Agriculture (DA). Furthermore, sufficient water supply during the reproductive stage of the crop of the previous year contributed to higher output.

Figure 1. Quarterly Palay Production, Philippines, 2011-2017

Year on year, this quarter’s performance when deseasonalized was up by 11.98 percent or 499 thousand metric tons (Table 1).

PRICES

The seasonally adjusted farmgate, retail and wholesale prices of rice for the first quarter of 2017 improved by 4.57 percent, 1.06 percent, and 0.41 percent from their respective levels in the fourth quarter of 2016 (Tables 1 & 2). 

Figure 3. Quarterly Wholesale Prices of Rice, Philippines, 2011-2017

This quarter’s deseasonalized farmgate, wholesale and retail prices of palay/rice were more than previous year’s quotation (Tables 1 & 2) by 2.63 percent, 1.44 percent, and 1.04 percent, respectively.

Figure 4. Quarterly Retail Prices of Rice, Philippines, 2011-2017